Sri Lanka Faces More Unrest After President Escapes Without Resigning

By Staff, Agencies

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled the country to the Maldives on a military jet within hours before he was due to resign, following days of extraordinary scenes including his presidential palace and office being taken over by anti-government protesters.

The air force confirmed that Rajapaksa, his wife, and two security guards boarded a military aircraft in the early hours of Wednesday morning after he invoked executive powers to enable his escape.

“Under the provisions of the constitution and on a request by the government, the Sri Lanka air force provided a plane early today to fly the president, his wife, and two security officials to the Maldives,” a statement said.

On their arrival in the Maldives capital of Malé at 3am, they were greeted at the airport by the president, Mohammad Nasheed, and his wife. It was thought that Rajapaksa would fly onwards to the United Arab Emirates.

At the time of his departure on Wednesday morning, the president still had not submitted a letter of resignation. Anti-government protesters gave him until 1pm on Wednesday to resign, threatening mass unrest otherwise.

Rajapaksa’s escape to the Maldives followed a dramatic 24 hours that saw him unsuccessfully try various means of leaving the country. He was blocked from boarding a commercial flight to Dubai on Monday night after airport staff refused to stamp his passport in the VIP area of the airport. India also refused to give permission for a military airport transporting him to land on its soil.

There was an apparent urgency on his part to leave the country before 13 July, the date he has given for his resignation. While he is still president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest. Many protesters, activists and lawyers have called for him to be prosecuted along with various family members over alleged corruption and human rights abuses in the two decades they have held power in Sri Lanka.

The president’s younger brother Basil Rajapaksa, who served as finance minister, was also prevented from boarding a flight to Dubai en route to the US where he is a dual citizen. Basil was also reported to have left the country over Tuesday night.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was elected in 2019, has been resisting calls for his resignation for months, as Sri Lanka has sunk deeper and deeper into a financial crisis for which he is widely blamed. Rajapaksa and five family members who held senior government posts stand accused of widespread corruption and economic mismanagement which left the country without any foreign currency to import food, fuel and medicines, and pushed inflation to record levels. According to the UN, the island of 22 million people is facing a humanitarian crisis.

Rajapaksa was forced at the weekend to announce his intention to step down from power this week, after hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the city of Colombo and stormed into the presidential palace and offices, as well as the official residence of the prime minister. They have occupied the buildings ever since, refusing to leave until both Rajapaksa and the PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe, step down.